Seattle moves on straws (Nation’s Restaurant News): On July 1, Seattle became the first city in the U.S. to ban plastic straws. It has already banned single-use plastic silverware.
Two amputations a week (Guardian): Workers in U.S. meat plants are three times more likely than the average worker to suffer serious injuries, including amputations, leading worker advocates to question the impact of proposals for faster lines speeds at hog processing plants.
USDA, Nestle and bottled water (AP): The U.S. Forest Service, a USDA agency, offered a three-year permit to a Nestle bottled-water subsidiary to draw millions of gallons of water a year from the San Bernardino National Forest in California.
Farm-raised Atlantic salmon in Wisconsin (FishFarmingExpert): Wisconsin-based Superior Fresh, which also grows hydroponic vegetables, has begun selling farm-raised Atlantic salmon in local supermarkets.
Seven public-health steps against obesity (JAMA Network): The continued rise in U.S. obesity rates makes vital “an ambitious, multipronged effort to reshape the food environment,” say three nutrition advocates, including CSPI senior scientist Michael Jacobson. Their proposal includes soda taxes, less salt in processed foods and subsidies to low-income people to buy healthy foods.
One in five U.S. children in poverty (USDA): Nearly 20 percent of U.S. children lived in poverty in 2016, compared to 18 percent in 2007, before the recession, according to Census Bureau estimates. The child poverty rate was highest in rural America, at 23.5 percent.
U.S. opposed breastfeeding resolution (New York Times): The U.S. delegation at the World Health Assembly, promoting interests of infant-formula makers, threatened trade action against other nations in trying to water down a resolution in support of breastfeeding.